UK/IRELAND 21 July

Spider-Man2 easily claimed the lead at the UK box office taking$13.5m (£7.2m) over the Fri-Sunday weekend, a 22% improvement on the original2002 film's first three-day take.

Thesequel benefited from a PG certificate compared to its predecessor's 12 certificate.

Theholdovers took a beating at Spider-Man's hands with the top fifteenplaced holdovers recording an average drop of 56% week-on-week, a figure whichgoes little way to showing the true effect felt by the likes of Mean Girls (-80%),Walking Tall (-74%), Godsend and Twisted (both -77%).

Expandingfrom 132 to 177 sites, Fahrenheit 9/11 slipped 23% week-on-week. After ten dayson release it has already beaten Touching The Void's record to becomethe highest grossing documentary release of all time in the UK.

Meanwhile,UGCFilms is doing strong business on the arthouse circuit with The Returnand The Story Of The Weeping Camel. The two dropped 8% and 16%respectively this week in their fourth and second weeks on release. Until therelease of The Return, UGC had not released a film since SwimmingPool in August 2003.

Only registered users or subscribers can comment on this article.

Subscribe to Screen International

Screen International is the essential resource for the international film industry. Subscribe now for monthly editions, awards season weeklies, access to the Screen International archive and supplements including Stars of Tomorrow and World of Locations.